


the best day of the whole summer

by uxiumin



Category: EXO (Band), K-pop
Genre: Fluff, I Don't Even Know, M/M, One Shot, Random & Short, Slice of Life, crushing hard, just a short and fluffy thingie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-11
Updated: 2019-07-11
Packaged: 2020-06-26 12:21:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19768090
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/uxiumin/pseuds/uxiumin
Summary: who said that a summer job at the local comic book store would be boring?another accurrate title: Chanyeol and Jongdae panick about their crushes at work.





	the best day of the whole summer

**Author's Note:**

> Hello there!
> 
> This is just a short one shot I wrote for summer but I hope that you can enjoy it.  
> If you do, please leave a kudo or two. Thanks for reading and stay hydrated!
> 
> PS; based on actual events that occurred to me because I'm absolutely shameless.

The grey and green walls inside the large store were crowded with posters from the latest video games and TV hits, ads from new and old comic book characters, Captain America and Thor share their space with Batman and Wonder Woman and other characters coming straight from action comics and manga while a big Millennium Falcon replica hangs from the ceiling watching over the entire store as a guardian angel. Figures and comics stored in big metallic bookshelves matching the walls, near the usually crowded computer area were teenagers came to play against their friends.

But not today.

Chanyeol was trying to remove a sticker that one customer left on a computer screen. Right in the middle. Damn kids.

Slow summer days in Exoplanet, one of the many comic book stores you can find in Seoul, are sometimes like this, dull. It’s the common thing when a large portion of your customers are teenagers. In summer they leave with their parents or drown themselves in the nearest pool, forgetting, most of the days, about their loved and trusted comic book store. Chanyeol had applied for the summer job, he could use some extra cash next semester, believing that it would be easy money, and it is, but it is also boring money to make. Outside, fat dark grey clouds threaten with the biggest storm of the summer, but, exactly as their usual customers, rain doesn’t look like coming over any time soon.

“Chanyeol, it’s 5.30.” — a loud voice coming from the main counter calls for him and Chanyeol doesn’t for doubt a single second. leaves the cleaner and the cloth he was using and runs to the entrance, Jongdae was already there, with his big kitten-like smile.

“Have they passed already?” — Chanyeol asked his coworker, trying to style his hair. The humidity had transformed his chocolate hair into a frizzy mess.

“No, not yet.” — Jongdae gazed over to the shop window. When two masculine figures appeared on the street he left a tiny shriek outside his throat. “They are coming!”

The thing is, in tedious summer days you should find yourself a distraction, something to do, even when you are a work, and especially if you are having this kind of lazy day. Chanyeol and Jongdae soon found their own distraction, they come in a pack of two and both clerks have no idea about their names, but they know one thing for sure; they’ve been crushing hard on both strangers for, at least, the whole summer.

Said strangers walked right in front of Exoplanet every day around 5.30. Sometimes, they stop to look at whatever it’s displayed over the shopping window.

“Today he is going to stop.” — Jongdae murmured to Chanyeol, acting like he was doing something over the counter.

“How do you know that?” — Chanyeol asked looking out from the corner of his eyes.

“I changed the display…” — Jongdae smiled mischievously. “He always stops when we have One Piece figures displayed.”

“That’s creepy” — Chanyeol whispered and Jongdae simply shrugged.

Jongdae hit bull’s eye, the stranger he was talking about, with jet black hair and a pair of big feline eyes stopped right in his tracks, with his mouth completely agape to look at the new display in awe. Jongdae had the nerve to put there almost every new One Piece figure they had in the store. Jongdae wiggled his eyebrows and hummed happily at the sight. His plan to attract their attention worked, Chanyeol hated to admit, but both strangers were still outside the store and not inside.

And then, it happened. Chanyeol’s eyes were staring at the other stranger, blonde hair, and droopy eyes behind a pair of round glasses that made him look younger and naïve. Maybe Chanyeol didn’t realize that he was, in fact, staring, but the stranger did realize. The eye contact and the tiny smile over those pink lips almost killed Chanyeol.

“You should go outside and talk to them” — Jongdae said.

“What, why?” — Chanyeol asked, stuttering, even his ears were blushing.

“I saw it, Yeol! You made eye contact! Get them inside!” — Jongdae didn’t want to yell so the other wouldn’t hear him, so they were having an entire conversation in passive-aggressive whispering.

“Why it has to be me?” — Chanyeol asked back with a desperate face.

“You made eye contact!” — Jongdae kept insisting.

“And?”

“And I am your boss, so do as I say”

“You aren’t my boss” — Chanyeol sounded even offended.

“I’m the one in charge, so I am your boss, dumb ass” — Jongdae pushed his tall coworker towards the door.

“I fucking hate you, Dae” — Chanyeol sighed in despair.

“You don’t” — Jongdae sent him a flying kiss as soon as he reached the counter again. The couple of strangers was starting to move outside the window-shop area when Chanyeol, using every drop of courage he had stormed outside the store, right in front of them.

“H-hello” — the tall clerk spoke with a stuttering voice, not nervous at all. “Welcome to Exoplanet.” Both strangers looked at him, clearly trying to suppress a laugh and greeted back Chanyeol. “My coworker and I noticed… noticed that you were looking at the One Piece display.” — Chanyeol kept talking trying to make both of them engage.

The black-haired stranger nodded. “I have a few of these, but you guys have some figures I really been looking for”

“W-we have more inside” — Chanyeol stuttered again. “From more anime series too, if you are interested.”

Both strangers exchanged looks and the black-haired one shrugged. “We have time, thanks for your help, Chanyeol.”

“How do you know my name?” — Chanyeol asked surprised.

“You know you have a tag with your name on that vest they made you wear, right?” — said the blonde stranger accompanied by a tiny laugh. Chanyeol felt the embarrassment creeping inside of him. _Cool move, Park,_ he blamed himself.

Forgetting about the embarrassment, his not so cool stuttering got both strangers inside the store. Jongdae greeted them, acting like he was working at something over the computer, but if you look attentively at his eyes, you could feel the panic inside.

The black-haired stranger directed himself towards the figure area, while the other looked over some video games. Chanyeol was having a dichotomy inside his brain. Being a good clerk and ask both of them if they needed help or let his crush run wild and go ask the blonde one directly. Jongdae, on the other hand, didn’t have a second to doubt. His feet moved fast, the more fast Chanyeol has ever seen on him towards the black-haired customer, leaving Chanyeol with an easy choice. Easy, but the tall clerk needed some air to regain his courage once again.

“D-do you need help?” — Chanyeol asked cautiously, while he could hear the loud and excited voice of Jongdae in the background.

“I’m just waiting…” — the blonde customer told Chanyeol, but his eyes looked over the computer area. “Actually… Minseok would take a while, he tends to forget about time when he shops his figures, can I use a computer?” — he asked with the softest smile ever.

“O- Of course” — _Try not to stare at his smile, Park_ , Chanyeol reminded himself. “Just choose one, you can pay later.”

The stranger nodded and sat at one of the nearest computers they had, placing his things over the table. Chanyeol vanished for a second, leaving the boy some space to adjust and came back with a cold water bottle.

“Here” — Chanyeol offered.

“Are you also a waiter?” — the customer asked with a playful smile that did weird things inside Chanyeol’s mind.

“N-no, well, you are hot. I MEAN, that you must be hot. It’s hot outside, so… hydrate yourself.” - Chanyeol swore that everyone else at the store could hear his own heartbeat going crazy. The blonde laughed softly, not in a mean way, but to be honest, anyone would’ve laughed at Chanyeol’s gracious way of explaining himself.

“Thanks” — the customer said taking the water bottle. “For the water… and the compliment” — he winked.

He. Winked. Chanyeol almost died right there, happy, complete, everything in its rightful place. The boy he has been crushing secretly over a month not only had noticed him, but he also laughed and winked at him. This must be the best day of the whole summer.

Jongdae, meanwhile, remembers the first time he saw the black-haired guy with his friend passing by the store. He had even entered once or twice, but they never got to talk. Jongdae has been working for two years at Exoplanet. And the last four months of work he had been waiting for the 5.30 to come by as a dog waits for his owner to walk him out in the morning. When Chanyeol started working at the store he soon noticed his crush over the guy, but soon it was Jongdae’s turn to laugh when his tall coworker crushed on the other customer. It’s their little crush secret. But Chanyeol doesn’t know for how long Jongdae has been keeping it, for how long has he been desiring to talk to the mysterious black-haired guy.

And now he is here. Right in front of him, laughing cheerfully, talking excitedly about the series he loves with that gummy smile plastered over his face. Jongdae has to make an effort not to coo and hug the customer every time he gets excited over a figure or a new release.

“Why this one has such a price reduction?” — the customer asked to Jongdae while holding a big box in his hands.

“Well, let me see” — Jongdae looked over it, carefully. “Oh, the box has some printing and form imperfection, so we had to reduce it.”

“Really, just for that?” — the customer looked astonished at the box. “I’m buying it, then”

“Great” — Jongdae took the big box. “I’ll take it to the counter for you so you can look over some more.” The customer chuckled and nodded to Jongdae’s kindness. When he reached the counter he found Chanyeol completely dazed out, hiding.

“What are you doing here?” — Jongdae asked his coworker, whispering. “Shouldn’t you be with your crush?”

“I was” — Chanyeol answered, still blushing a bit. “I don’t know what else to say and I don’t want to be a bother…”

“I don’t know. Ask what is he playing, don’t hide behind the counter and sulk, it’s creepy.” — Jongdae said while leaving again, Chanyeol mimicking him in a mean way.

_But he is right,_ Chanyeol thought after, _I don’t even know his name._

Chanyeol left the counter and stood again. The blonde guy playing on the computer with a focused expression.

“How is it going?” — Chanyeol asked, trying to sound casual.

“I won the last round, but they are giving me a hard time now” — he answered partially absent. Chanyeol moved to look at the results over the screen.

“Oh, you are good” — he said without even thinking. “I tried this game once but I actually suck.” — the customer laughed and looked at him softly. Chanyeol also managed to see the nickname over the screen. Baekhyun. “Is that your name? Baekhyun?”

The customer nodded. “I know, a lame nickname for gaming” — he laughed.

“Don’t worry, I use part of my name backward as a nickname, is not that cool either” — they both laughed.

“You also play?” — Baekhyun asked.

“Recently on my breaks, these computers are better than the one I own” — Chanyeol chuckled. “Maybe… sometimes we can play together..” — The clerk offered, it was a bold move, and Chanyeol was already expecting a disaster to happen.

“Sure!” — Baekhyun answered, and what was even better it looked sincere. Chanyeol swore he could fly over the clouds after that answer.

Meanwhile, over the counter, Jongdae and his favorite customer kept talking. Jongdae discovered that it was easy to make the guy laugh. Even when he had a really serious staring face. But it was all a façade, he proved to be sweet and playful, even a little flirty. Which was probably the thing causing Jongdae’s heart to beat rampant.

“I know I’m going to sound a little cheeky…” — the customer spoke with a mischievous smile on his face that drove Jongdae completely crazy. “But, do you happen to have more figures like this… I mean, with a great discount”

Jongdae started thinking quickly. Usually, he would just say “no” to any other customer, but this was his crush, and if his crush wanted discounted items, he would get exactly those. But he knows that all of those are at the back of the store.

“We may have a few more…” — Jongdae sighed. “But they are at the back, and I’m not allowed to bring anyone there..”

“Can’t you just bring them over here?”

“They aren’t supposed to be on display… not all of them..” — Jongdae kept thinking. “Well…”

The customer tilted his head, waiting for Jongdae to come up with something. “If you don’t say to anyone… I can let you inside.” — Jongdae said with one of his kitten smiles aiming directly to his customer that blushed a little.

“I don’t want to be a bother” — the customer answered. “I don’t want to get you fired or something.” — the customer looked a little worried while averting his eyes from the clerk. That inside Jongdae’s heart translated as the loudest heartbeat he had ever made.

“You won’t! Chanyeol won’t tell, I won’t tell!” — Jongdae pressed a few buttons on the security keyboard towards the door, after a loud whistle, the door opened smoothly. “Come with me.” The customer smiled greatly to Jongdae showing him the way to the back store.

“Jongdae?” — Chanyeol’s deep voice echoed through the store. “Did you opened the back store?” — he asked approaching with Baekhyun following.

“Just 10 minutes” — Jongdae answered quickly. — “Don’t worry.” Jongdae and his favorite customer entered the back store, closing the heavy door, leaving Chanyeol and Baekhyun behind.

“Sorry” — Baekhyun muttered to Chanyeol. “Minseok can get a little mischievous sometimes.” — Baekhyun chuckled trying not to sound serious.

“Don’t worry” — Chanyeol answered trying to downplay the issue. “I’m not getting fired, only Jongdae."- both of them laughed, alone at the store, when a flash of loud lightning broke the comfortable silence they both were falling in.

“Finally!” — Chanyeol exclaimed, looking outside at the rain that was starting to fall.

But the joy soon turned into distress when the clerk realized that due to the storm they were suffering a complete blackout. No computer worked, the lights at the store won’t work, and even worse, the security door that led to the back store was off. Completely off.

“Jongdae!” — Chanyeol called his coworker from outside. “Jongdae!”

“Chanyeol, what’s wrong?” — Baekhyun asked.

“There is no power, the door won’t open.” — Chanyeol replied anxiously.

“Minseok!” — Baekhyun yelled too.

“Can you please stop yelling?” — Jongdae asked from the inside. “Chanyeol, you are blocking the door.”

“I’m not” — Chanyeol replied a little angry. “There’s a power outage, the door won’t open.”

“What?!” — Minseok and Jongdae yelled in unison.

“Should I call the owner?” — Chanyeol asked Jongdae.

“No!” — Jongdae panicked a little. “If he finds us like this he will fire me. Listen: don’t panic, the whole building must be in a blackout, power will be restored soon, just wait for a little.”

“Okay.” — Chanyeol replied discouraged, letting his body fell against a wall, sitting in the ground near the door.

“Minseok are you okay?” — Baekhyun asked his friend.

“Yeah” — Minseok replied. “It’s a little dark in here, but I’m not alone at least. Let’s just wait, Jongdae is right.”

Baekhyun sighed and sat beside Chanyeol over the floor. They exchanged a weird look and laughed soundly at the situation, ridiculous.

“Working at a comic shop is always like this?” — Baekhyun asked, really close to Chanyeol.

“No” — the tall laughed with a soft smile over his face. “To be honest, it was a very dull day until you both entered.”

"How is that?”

“No customers, hot and humid day, wearing this ugly vest…” — Chanyeol joked pointing at his only piece of work attire owning himself a delicate laugh from Baekhyun. “But, I get to know you today, so it must be the best day of the whole summer”. Words left Chanyeol’s mouth so quickly that he didn’t have time to process them before saying them. And when they left it was too late to take them back. Baekhyun looked at Chanyeol from the other side of his round glasses with wondrous eyes.

“How does that make it the best day of the whole summer?” — Baekhyun asked, his cheeks turning a lovely hue of pink.

“I always...see you and Minseok. Passing by.” — On the other hand, Chanyeol’s ears and cheeks were on fire. Baekhyun chuckled at Chanyeol’s words.

“Next time, you can say hello instead of staring from inside the store.” — Baekhyun told Chanyeol with a funny tone. Chanyeol hated how creepy he must’ve looked. “Or ask me If I would want a coffee, or to go to the cinema…”

Chanyeol’s eyes went crazy, full panic mode. He looked at Baekhyun, still blushing at his side, and couldn’t believe what Baekhyun was saying. Was his crush suggesting that they should have a date?.

“I can do that. I can totally do that” — Chanyeol hurried to answer.

“So?” — Baekhyun looked at him with expecting eyes. Their shoulders touching, their legs really close while waiting for the question.

“Coffee, tomorrow?” — Chanyeol doesn’t know how he managed to ask, because his brain was mostly porridge from all the nervousness.

“Sure. I’ll come to pick you up when your shift ends.” — Baekhyun answered with a confident smile, Chanyeol simply nodded.

The flickering of a near fluorescent woke up Chanyeol from his Baekhyun trance. The light came back, so the door must open now. He quickly got up from the floor and inserted the numbers, he heard the whistle while the keyboard turned green and the door opened seconds before. He found Jongdae and Minseok sitting on the floor, just like him and Baekhyun were moments ago. Both of them stepped out from the back store and laughed nervously reminding the whole scene.

Finally, Minseok paid for his figures after apologizing one hundred and fifty times. Even though it wasn’t his fault he felt terribly sorry and guilty, but Jongdae dismissed him with a smile and a hug.

To be fair, Minseok was the one who hugged him and Jongdae just stayed there, dying inside.

Soon, Exoplanet was silent again. Only the two clerks and the sound of the light rain ringing joyfully against the windows.

“That was crazy” — Chanyeol broke the silence not trying to conceal his big dorky smile.

“That was super crazy. Zero regrets.”- Jongdae answered with the same type of smile.

Chanyeol titled his head. “Did something happen at the back store? I’m not cleaning that.”

Jongdae punched his coworker right in the arm, blushing hard. “No, dumb ass. I got this.”. Jongdae showed Chanyeol his phone, with a new contact shining inside the screen. Minseok. Chanyeol clapped at Jongdae that struck a proud pose, living the moment.

“I also got something.” — Chanyeol said, shyly. “I have a date tomorrow". Jongdae laughed with his usual ultra-loud and high-pitched laugh that could trespass walls and high-fived Chanyeol.

“The best fucking day of the whole summer” — Jongdae yelled.

**Author's Note:**

> Leave kudos and comments, pretty please!


End file.
